Wednesday, January 23, 2013

In honor of No Name-Calling Week, librarians should refrain from calling their coworkers names. This positive action will help reduce the negative atmosphere perpetuated by all of the bullies, liars, jerks, perverts, weirdos, geeks, and name-callers who work at your library.

Ask the readers: What names will you stop calling your library coworkers for No Name-Calling Week?

I think we should take this to its logical conclusion and not only stop calling them names, but even stop calling them by THEIR names. A wordless grunt to grab someone's attention will surely make for a happier and more productive work environment.

My personal name-calling venue of choice is a tee-shirt or sweat shirt (depending on the weather) with all sorts of names on the shirt with the a disclaimer at the end that states, "Pick the name that best suits your persoality." This gives the name-calee personal responsibility for their own insult.

I suppose that means mispronouncing names is out too? Nothing says "I don't care one bit about you' than mispronouncing someone's name that you have worked with for years and then trying to correct how other people pronounce it when they get it right.